Case first under bully law

MIDDLETOWN -- Two Middletown High School students have been charged in connection with the assault of a freshman at the school.

Natalie Missakian

Published 12:00 am, Sunday, September 8, 2002

Freddie Umsteadt, 14, said he was jumped and whipped with a leather belt by three boys after gym class Thursday afternoon.

Police charged 16-year-old Lazaro Jimenez with third-degree assault, punishable by up to a year in jail. They also charged a 14-year-old student with conspiracy to commit third-degree assault. That student's name was not released due to his age.

School officials say they are dealing appropriately with one of the most serious incidents of bullying at the 1,200-student high school in recent years.

The incident may test the effectiveness of the state's new anti-bully law.

Under the law, schools must adopt a policy by Feb. 1 for dealing with bullying.

The policy must permit anonymous reports of bullying by students and written reports by parents. It requires teachers and other school staff to notify school administrators when they receive complaints or witness bullying acts.

Schools also must investigate written complaints and maintain a publicly available list of the number of verified bullying acts that occurred at the school. In addition, schools must notify parents if their child was involved in a bullying incident, whether that child was the aggressor or the target.

"I just think it's an important thing that the children know that this law does exist," said Beagle. "These things can be solved if these kids are listened to and somebody pays attention."

Statistics show bullying can have long-term consequences. Bullies are six times more likely to be convicted of a crime by age 24, according to national statistics. And children who are bullied are more likely to bring weapons to school to defend themselves, and may suffer from depression and low self-esteem as adults.

Colorado became the first state to adopt an anti-bullying law after the shootings at Columbine High School. The shooters there had reportedly been bullied in school. Connecticut's law was prompted, in part, by the Jan. 2 suicide of 12-year-old Daniel Scruggs, a Meriden boy who had been bullied.

Mental health experts say schools officials must do more to stem the tide of bullying.

"As a clinical psychologist, I'm truly sick and tired of sitting with folks in their 30s, 40s and 50s and hearing how their lives were destroyed in middle school," said Michael Schwarzchild, president of the Connecticut Psychological Association, a group that lobbied for the law. "The damage that's been done is really beyond the understanding of folks who haven't been targets and who don't work in the mental health field."

In the Middletown incident this week, Umsteadt, who has a learning disability and a condition that has slowed his growth, was left with small welts on his back and red marks on his legs and arms. He said other boys stood around and cheered during the beating.

"That's severe -- to hit him with a belt; it's sickening," said Umsteadt's mother, Debra. "This went on for five minutes and no teachers heard his screams? I don't know if I'll be sending him back to school."

"Parents need to know that safety of the students is paramount and that this incident is being investigated swiftly and thoroughly," said Carol Parmelee-Blancato, Middletown's superintendent of schools. "We are obviously very concerned."

Middletown police are still investigating and more arrests were possible. The school has suspended at three students who were involved in Thursday's incident.

Umsteadt is far from alone. A state report issued in 2001 by the Connecticut Commission on Children cited a survey showing nine out of 10 Connecticut elementary schools reported experiences with bullying. The Governor's Prevention Partnership estimates that nearly 180,000 Connecticut students are bullying victims.

Lisa Toomey of Meriden, who founded an advocacy group for parents of bullied children, said the state has taken a good first step toward eradicating the age-old problem. She said the record-keeping alone should call attention to any bullying patterns that erupt in a school, even though the law does not require schools to submit their data to the state.

"It will give some form of accountability where there really was none before," said Toomey. "Some administrators have a tendency to keep this sort of abuse within the school system. They're not reporting it to law enforcement because it's a direct reflection on them. Because of that, the numbers are really skewed."

School nurses are not required to document visits by students, so many of the injuries related to bullying have gone unreported in the past, Toomey said.

The law defines bullying as "any overt acts by a student or group of students directed against another student with the intent to ridicule, humiliate or intimidate the other student...which are repeated against the same student over time." The law only applies to acts that happen on school grounds or school-sponsored activities.

Though most school boards have policies against fighting in their student conduct codes, few have banned bullying specifically.

Vincent Mustaro, senior staff associate for the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education, said the most crucial aspect of the law is a requirement that schools adopt an intervention strategy so staff members will know what to do when confronted with bullies.

Mustaro, who crafted a model policy for local school boards, suggests immediate intervention to stop the bullying behavior, talking to the bully and victim separately, putting administrators and other teachers on alert and informing parents as soon as possible.

The policy advises against referring bullying cases to peer mediation, saying "the power imbalance will likely make this a very intimidating situation for the victim." Bullies who persist despite repeated warnings should be removed from the class or school, the policy suggests.

"Years ago you used to say, 'Boys will be boys, girls will be girls,' " said Mustaro. "Now we're saying, 'Wait a minute. It is not part of the normal progression of childhood. It is disruptive to learning and leads to a lot more serious issues.' "

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Natalie Missakian can be reached at nmissa-kian@nhregister.com, and 789-5726.